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ShareMumbai: It's not often that you associate the word 'even' with a contest involving Mumbai and Orissa. The 38-time Ranji Trophy champions can be merciless when it comes to steamrolling minnows. However, the four-day Super League Group A clash beginning on Tuesday at the Brabourne Stadium, will be anything but one-sided. The reasons are aplenty.
No Ramesh Powar, no Rohit Sharma, no Ajinkya Rahane, no Abhishek Nayar. This effectively means that a 'rookie' middle-order will take the field and with dark clouds hovering already, batting will not be all that easy.
Powar's absence is an even bigger blow given his current form with both ball and the willow. The positive factor, of course, is the presence of Zaheer Khan. More so, after his impressive show against Punjab a few days back. Ajit Agarkar and Dhaval Kulkarni provide the much-needed solidity to the attack.
With a tinge of grass, the 22 yards, like Mumbai coach Pravin Amre put it, is a "true, result wicket". Orissa skipper Shiv Sundar Das felt the toss will be a crucial factor. "The wicket has good bounce and carry. Whoever bats first would want to post at least 300 on the board," the former India Test opener said.
To put things in perspective, both sides are chasing different goals. While defending champions Mumbai would love to register their first 'outright' win this season, the priority for Orissa would be to put up a better show than the one against Gujarat wherein they lost to Parthiv Patel & Co by a mammoth 159 runs.
Mumbai go into the match with three points from the drawn affair with Punjab but sans four key players. While Sharma, Rahane and Nayar are set to turn out for the Board President's XI against Sri Lanka, Powar has been ruled out due to a side strain. DNA has reliably learnt that five players -- Prashant Naik, Sushant Marathe, Aditya Tare, Ankit Chavan and Iqbal Abdulla with a combined First Class experience of 31 matches -- will fight for those four slots.
"It's a great chance for the youngsters coming in. They know this is a rare opportunity as they will have to make way when the others get back. However, getting to represent Mumbai, may be for one match, is a big achievement in itself... So make the most of it," Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer said, adding that his side's aim is to score "at least 400 and then focus on picking up 20 wickets".
Orissa need to turn back the clock by a year for some inspiration. They had managed to bowl Mumbai out for 180 in Cuttack in the 2008 season and Das wants that kind of performance again.
"Our strength lies in pace bowling (former India player Debasis Mohanty and Basanth Mohanty) and we would like to repeat what we did last year," Das said. Das would, however, want to forget whatever happened in the latter half of the match. Orissa were skittled out for 108 and Mumbai, riding on a double hundred from Rahane in the second innings, beat them comprehensively.
Whatever said and done, Mumbai are still the stronger side, at least on paper. However, it will require Jaffer to shoulder a huge chunk of the responsibility. A few quick Mumbai wickets could see Orissa in the driver's seat.
The Squads (From)
Mumbai: W Jaffer (c), A Agarkar (vc), S Kukreja, V Samant (wk), Z Khan,
D Kulkarni, P Naik, S Marathe, O Khanvilkar, I Abdulla, A Tare
Orissa: SS Das (c), B Mohanty, R Das, D Behera, N Behera, S Biswal, S Jena, D Mohanty, R Mohanty, P Mullick, P Patel, B Pati, D Singh, P Das, H Das (wk).
